1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-interior illuminator, and particularly relates to an improvement of a method of attaching a light source in an illuminator for illuminating an inside handle portion.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 11-368177, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
An illuminator intended to improve the visibility of an inside handle portion is known as a vehicle-interior illuminator. For example, in an illuminator disclosed in JP-A-11-105547, a light source is disposed on a support plate provided at the rear of an inside handle vessel, so that light from the light source is taken out to a front surface of the inside handle vessel through a gap (window) between the inside handle vessel and an inside handle so as to illuminate the inside handle portion. In the work of assembling such an illuminator, the light source is first attached to the support plate, and the inside handle vessel and the inside handle are thereafter installed.
In the aforementioned background-art illuminator, the position of the light source and the position of the window for taking out light from the light source are adjusted when the inside handle vessel and the inside handle are installed. To say other words, it is necessary to install the inside handle and so on while the position of the light source, the position of the inside handle, and so on, are adjusted finely. In addition, it is necessary to design individual parts in consideration of the position where the light source is attached and the positions where the inside handle vessel and so on are installed.
On the other hand, in a recent process of assembling a car, modularized parts are used to improve the efficiency of working. That is, modules in which some parts are combined with one another are prepared in advance and set in predetermined positions. Also in the inside handle portion, an inside handle module in which a door trim vessel, an inside handle, and so on, are combined with one another is prepared in advance and installed in a predetermined position of a door trim. Since such modularized parts are increased in size in comparison with individual parts, it becomes more difficult to adjust the installation positions of the modularized parts finely when they are installed.
The present invention has been developed to solve the foregoing problems. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an inside handle portion illuminator in which fine position adjustment is made unnecessary in the work of assembling, so that the efficiency of working can be improved.
In order to attain the foregoing object, according to the present invention, there is provided an inside handle illuminator comprising: an inside handle vessel; a lamp unit having a light source for illuminating an inside handle portion from a back surface side of the inside handle vessel; and fixing means for fixing the lamp unit to the inside handle vessel.
In the illuminator configured thus, a lamp unit having a light source is fixed directly to the inside handle vessel. Accordingly, it is not necessary to install the inside handle vessel and so on in accordance with the position where the light source is attached. That is, it is possible to install the inside handle vessel and so on without performing troublesome position adjustment. As a result, it is possible to improve the efficiency of working. In addition, when modularized parts are used, the efficiency of working is further improved.
The inside handle vessel is a box-like member having an opening portion on the cabin side, and the opening portion forms an inside handle receiving portion.
The lamp unit is attached to the back surface side of the inside handle vessel, that is, on the opposite side to the inside handle receiving portion. Thus, light from the light source provided inside the lamp unit illuminates the inside handle portion from the back surface side of the inside handle vessel. The position where the lamp unit is attached is not limited specially so long as the position is on the back surface side of the inside handle vessel. That is, the inside handle receiving portion can be illuminated from its top, bottom or side in accordance with the position where the lamp unit is attached.
A bulb or an LED may be used as the light source. If the request of miniaturization and power-saving is taken into consideration, it is preferable to use an LED as the light source. A general-purpose LED may be used therefor, and the color of light emitted therefrom may be selected optionally.
The lamp unit is fixed to the inside handle vessel by fixing means. As the fixing means, means for making a part of the lamp unit engage with a part of the inside handle vessel may be adopted. For example, a protrusion provided in the lamp unit is made to engage with a recess provided in the inside handle vessel. That is, one or plural protrusions are provided in the lamp unit so as to be plugged in recesses provided in the inside handle vessel. Thus, the lamp unit is fixed to the inside handle vessel. Of course, protrusions may be provided in the inside handle vessel so as to be plugged in recesses provided in the lamp unit so that the lamp unit can be fixed to the inside handle vessel. Further, protrusions and recesses may be provided in the lamp unit. In this case, recesses and protrusions are provided in the inside handle vessel correspondingly to the protrusions and the recesses of the lamp unit. The number of the protrusions or the recesses provided in the lamp unit or provided in the inside handle vessel is not limited specially.
Here, such protrusions imply ones having various shapes as well as projections. Projections may be further provided on a part of the protrusions. On the other hand, such recesses imply a configuration in which through holes are provided in a part of the inside handle vessel or the lamp unit.